STUART — We know a lot about J.E.B.
Stuart, but what about his ancestors? How did the family first settle in
the Henry County area? Was a family member really assassinated in his
own home by British troops? For that, we have to go back to the time of
William Letcher, who was the maternal great-grandfather of James Ewell
Brown Stuart.

Letcher was
born about 1750 near Petersburg. He was the second son of Giles Letcher
of Goochland County, who was born in Ireland, and his wife, Hannah
Hughes, who was of Welsh descent. Giles established himself as a
successful merchant in Petersburg, but unfortunately lost his property
by fire. He eventually prospered and at the time of his death was a
well-to-do landowner.

By the
late 1770s, Letcher, described as “a man of fine appearance and greatly
beloved and esteemed,” ventured out on his own. On November 20, 1778, he
married Elizabeth Perkins, a daughter of Nicholas and Bethenia Harden
Perkins of Perkins Ferry near Danville. After their marriage, William
and Elizabeth decided to head west towards Kentucky as other settlers
were doing at that time but decided to stop in the far southwestern part
of what was at that time Henry County, Virginia. (Patrick County wasn’t
formed from Henry until 1791.) He chose a place known as “The Hollow”
due to the circular bend the mountains made around it. The Blue Ridge
Mountains sweep around the west side while Slate and Little Mountain are
on the east and south sides. The Ararat River runs the length of the
valley and empties into the Yadkin River to the south.

On
a slight elevation along the banks of the Ararat, William Letcher built
his home, probably of log construction, as were any other supporting
structures. No documentation is known to exist that William Letcher ever
held title to this land. The deed could have been lost, destroyed, or,
given the short time that Letcher was here, he may never had the
opportunity to record it. Some evidence suggests that Letcher’s
connection to this property could have come through his wife’s family,
the Perkins.

Letcher grew corn
and tobacco in the bottomland and had a number of livestock, including
cattle, hogs, and horses. An inventory in the Henry County Courthouse
includes many household and farm items such as saddlebags, rifles,
featherbeds, and a looking glass. William and Elizabeth were blessed on
March 21, 1780, with a daughter, Bethenia, who was named after her
grandmother.

William Letcher
was said to be a born leader and an ardent supporter of the Patriot
cause during the American Revolutionary War, and he was active and very
prominent in the local militia. In 1779, Letcher appears on the payroll
list of Captain David Carlin’s Henry County Militia. In a letter written
by Letcher’s granddaughter, she states, “He was a volunteer at the
Battle of Shallow Ford on the Yadkin near the village of Huntsville.” He
likely participated in other skirmishes and raids against Tories and
other British sympathizers in the area, but it appears he was never in
any major battle nor was he a member of the Continental Army. Letcher
was appointed Justice of the Peace for Henry County by the Governor of
Virginia in 1779.

The area
around The Hollow and along the Virginia and North Carolina border
spreading into Western North Carolina was a hotbed for Tories and others
loyal to the British Crown. The people who settled this western
backwoods region were far removed from the more populated eastern
sections of the colonies and had no quarrel with the British government.
A large number of these individuals aligned themselves with the British
Army, and harassed and threatened the colonists in the area who were
supportive of the Revolution.

William
Letcher was a loyal supporter of the latter, which put his life in
jeopardy. The letter from Letcher’s granddaughter goes on to state that
“He had the promise of long years of happiness and domestic felicity but
a serpent lurked in his path, for whom he felt too great a contempt to
take any precautions.

Letcher
had been warned that his life was in danger but being naturally fearless
and thinking the Tories too few, he underrated the danger. He had
helped defeat them once and thought them too cowardly to attack again.

He
would frequently go alone, armed only with a shotgun, into the most
inaccessible recesses of the mountains and hunt the Tories from their
hiding places.”

Threats to his life and property became
more and more common and culminated in his death on August 2, 1780.
There are a number of versions as to how Letcher was murdered, but the
most accepted is that the perpetrator of this foul deed was a local Tory
by the name of “Nichols,” who came to the home and demanded him “in His
Majesty’s name,” and shot Letcher in the presence of his wife and
daughter.

Nichols was later
apprehended, and after evidence was found on him that linked him to the
murder, he was promptly executed. One other man who was involved tried
to escape to Kentucky with his family, but he was killed by Native
Americans along the Holston River. Prompted by Letcher’s death and
seeking vengeance, the patriots and Whigs in the area rounded up
numerous Tories around The Hollow, and several were hung without mercy
or delay. After William Letcher’s death, his wife and daughter returned
to Pittsylvania County, where Elizabeth later married George Hairston, a
large landowner and one of the wealthiest men in the region. They made
their home at Beaver Creek Plantation in Henry County which remains in
existence. This estate contains the graves of George and Elizabeth and
numerous family members.

William
Letcher lies in a grave not much more than a stone’s throw away from
the site of his home along the Ararat River and, sadly, the place of his
murder. His daughter Bethenia had a white marble slab placed over the
grave from a Richmond, Virginia stonecutter before her death in 1845. On
the stone was carved a fitting tribute to her father. The grave, the
oldest known in Patrick County with an inscription, reads:

“In
Memory of William Letcher who was assassinated in his own house in the
bosom of his family by a Tory of the Revolution, on the 2nd day of
August, 1780, age about 30 years. May the tear of sympathy fall upon the
couch of the brave.”